The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

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Rev. Nicholas Gihr

WAXKEEP PUBLISHING

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Copyright © 2015 by Rev. Nicholas Gihr

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

By Rev. Nicholas Gihr

BOOK I.DOGMATICAL AND ASCETICAL PART

CHAPTER THE FIRST.SACRIFICE IN GENERAL

CHAPTER THE SECOND.THE BLOODY SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS

CHAPTER THE THIRD.THE UNBLOODY SACRIFICE OF THE LATAR

BOOK II.LITURGICAL AND ASCETICAL PART

CHAPTER THE FIRST.PREPARATION FOR THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

CHAPTER THE SECOND.THE RITE OF THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

FIRST SECTION.THE PREPARATORY DIVINE SERVICE

SECOND SECTION.THE SACRIFICIAL CELEBRATION PROPER

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

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BY REV. NICHOLAS GIHR

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BOOK I.DOGMATICAL AND ASCETICAL PART

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CHAPTER THE FIRST.SACRIFICE IN GENERAL

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I. ON THE VIRTUE OF RELIGION

Sacrifice is an act and, in fact, the supreme act of religion, for by the offering of sacrifice the Divine Majesty is honored in the worthiest and most perfect manner. The virtue of religion is, so to speak, the very root whence sacrifice springs and develops as a most beautiful blossom and most precious fruit. Therefore we at once perceive that the way for a better understanding of sacrifice can be opened only by previously considering the Christian or supernatural virtue of religion in its principal characteristics.

1. Religion (religio) is a special moral virtue, which enables and inclines the will to give to God the supernatural honor and adoration due to Him as the Creator and Supreme Ruler, as well as the last end of all things, and particularly of man. The Holy Ghost plants this virtue in the garden of the soul; it is our duty, with the help of grace, so to nourish this noble and precious gift of heaven that it may bear abundant fruit for the honor and glory of God and our own blessing and ultimate salvation.

The virtue of religion makes us courageous and willing to offer to the Divine Majesty due veneration. By means of this virtue we honor the Lord our God inasmuch as we acknowledge and proclaim His greatness, majesty and dominion over us, and at the same time confess our own littleness, lowliness and dependence upon Him. Religion, consequently, includes in itself two requisites: first, lively acknowledgment of His infinite perfection and dignity; and then, an humble subjection to His unlimited power and dominion. This cheerful submission, this humbling of self under the power of God (I Peter, 5 6) is required and commanded by the fundamental relations that exist between us as creatures and God as our Creator. And this relation is one of the most absolute and entire dependence upon God, for He is our first beginning and last end, our Redeemer and Sanctifier. We belong entirely to God and it behooves us to consecrate our being wholly to God; in God we live and move and are a (Acts 17, 28).

All my bones shall cry out: Lord, who is like to Thee? (Ps. 34, 10) God is a fathomless and shoreless sea of the most perfect being and life: His perfections are inexhaustible and incomparable, surpassing and excelling all things, incomprehensible and unspeakable. God possesses infinite grandeur and dignity. Therefore all rational creatures, being immeasurably below Him, owe Him the profoundest respect and veneration. God is not only inconceivably exalted above heaven and earth; but by His creative power He is also the source of all things, for they absolutely depend on Him as to their being, their existence, their activity. Since God is the Creator of all things visible and invisible, He is therefore the sovereign Master and Lord of all that lives and moves in the universe; consequently, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6, 15), to whom all beings owe unconditional and constant service. Since the Almighty God has made all things and since all creatures are the work of His hands, they belong to Him as His property; He has, then, the highest and the most absolute dominion over all creatures, for they exist only for Him, and must act only for Him, and serve Him alone. Most beautifully does the Church express this thought in the Invitatory of the Office of the Dead: Regem, cui omnia vivunt, venite adoremus Come let us adore the King unto whom all things live.

Holy Scripture frequently delivers these truths in most vivid and striking descriptions. The Lord is terrible and exceeding great and His power is admirable (Ecclus 43, 31). The Lord’s ways are in a tempest and a whirlwind and clouds are the dust of His feet (Nah. 1,3). God is the Supreme Master and Proprietor of the universe, because it has come forth from His creative hand and is His work; hence the Psalmist joyfully sings: The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof the world and all they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas and He hath prepared it upon the rivers (Ps. 23, 12). Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and weighed the heavens in His palm? Who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth? Behold the gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance behold the islands are as a little dust. It is He that sit upon the globe of the earth; He that stretch out the heavens as nothing, and spread them out as a tent to dwell in. Who bring out their host by number, and call them all by their names; by the greatness of His might and strength and power, not one of them was missing (Is. 40, 12 26). And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced. They were called and they said: Here we are; and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to Him that made them (Bar. 3, 34 35). O Lord, great art Thou, and glorious in Thy power, and no one can overcome Thee. Let all Thy creatures serve Thee; because Thou hast spoken, and they were made: Thou didst send forth Thy spirit, and they were created, and there is no one that can resist Thy voice. The mountains shall be moved from the foundations, with the waters the rocks shall melt as wax before Thy face (Judith 16, 16 18). He looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble: He toucheth the mountains, and they smoke (Ps. 103, 32).

And what is man in comparison with the Most High, with the Almighty Creator and powerful King, greatly to be feared, who sitteth upon His throne and is the God of dominion? (Ecclus. I, 8). Man’s days are as grass, as the flower of the field so shall he flourish. For the spirit shall pass in him, and he shall not be: and he shall know his place no more (Ps. 102, 15 16). Man is earth and ashes (Ecclus. 17, 31); he is a leaf and a dry straw carried about by the wind ; like a flower he cometh forth and is destroyed and he fleeth as a shadow (Job 13, 25; 14, 2). Now should not man a weak, frail, miserable creature bow down and humble himself to the dust, should he not tremble with awe, reverence and astonishment before the power, grandeur and majesty of God, whose throne is the heavens and whose footstool is the earth (Is. 66, 1).

The pillars of heaven tremble and dread at His beck; the morning stars praise Him and the sons of God make a joyful melody to Him (Job 26, II; 38, 7). The choirs of holy spirits sing in the highest heavens to the Lord day and night their never-ceasing Holy, holy, holy; the glorified saints prostrate themselves before Him that sitteth on the throne and adore Him that liveth forever and ever; they lay down their crowns before the throne, saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power; because Thou hast created all things and for Thy will they were and have been created (Apoc. 4, 10 11). In this jubilation of eternal praise and adoration man also should unite, according to his ability, in glorifying God, who is justly exalted above all.

2. The virtue of religion, moreover, quickens our zeal and spurs us on to the performance of acts calculated to render to the Divine Majesty due honor and glory; and these acts may be divided into two classes.

a) In the first class are comprised all acts which in themselves refer to the honor of God and promote it, that is, those which by their nature are intended and calculated to render to the greatness of God due acknowledgment and worship. We perform such acts when, for instance, we pray and offer sacrifice, make and fulfil vows, adorn churches and decorate altars.

b) The second class includes the acts of all the other virtues, figuratively speaking, in so far as they are performed by command of God, that is, by an inspiration from Him and from a motive of honoring Him, consequently made with a view and intention of giving glory to God. The virtue of religion can and must direct to the glory of God all the works and exercises of a Christian life, that it may become a perpetual divine service. Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do. Do all for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10, 31).

To this effect St. Augustine says: God is to be honored by faith, hope and charity (Manuale 1, 3). The acts of faith, hope and charity are in themselves acts, not of the moral virtue of religion, but of the three essentially different theological virtues; yet they may be elicited with the intention of acknowledging the divine truth, fidelity and goodness, and God is thereby greatly honored and glorified. In believing, hoping and loving we give ourselves to God with all the powers of our soul, we lean upon God and rest in God as our last end; in other words, we render to the divine perfections and majesty due homage and submission. The three divine virtues also condition the development and completion of the Christian life, which is founded on faith, nourished by hope and animated by charity. Faith enlightens the understanding with celestial light, hope endows the soul with supernatural strength, and love inflames the heart with divine fire; thus these, three virtues enable us by a new and holy life to announce to men the glorious prerogatives and perfections of God, that they may see our works and glorify our Father who is in heaven (1 Peter 2, 9; Matt. 5, 16). They give rise to the virtue of religion, and excite us to glorify God through works of piety, mercy and penance.

We read in the epistle of St. James (1. 27) these words: Religion (religio) clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this; to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep one’s self unspotted from the world. The meaning of the above is that if we would honor God the Father in a sincere and proper manner, we must be assiduously intent upon assisting the poor, the abandoned and the distressed, upon consoling and comforting them, and, at the same time, endeavor, amid the universal corruption of the world, to serve God alone and to please Him by purity of heart and the righteousness of our ways. Thus the virtue of religion will produce abundant fruits that in all things and above all things God may be glorified (ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus).

3. Religion holds the first place among the moral virtues. Although, like all other moral virtues, the virtue of religion is inferior in merit and dignity to the divine virtues of faith, hope and charity, it is, nevertheless, most intimately connected with them, for it regulates the conduct of man toward God. It holds the first rank among the moral virtues, because it approaches nearer to God than the others, in so far as it produces and has for its primary object those acts which refer directly and immediately to the honor of God that is, whatever acts pertain to the divine service. The sublime virtue of religion ennobles man precisely in this, that it completely subjects him to the will and dominion of God and brings him into the closest communication with the primal Source of all holiness. For in offering honor and homage to God we submit our mind to Him, and it is in this submission that its perfection consists. An object is perfected by its submitting to its superior. Thus the; perfection of the body consists in its being vivified by the soul; and the perfection of the atmosphere in its being thoroughly illumined by the light of the sun. Honoring God fervently renders man truly great and exalted, and imparts to him abundant gain and blessing or his spiritual life.

4. The worship due to the Divine Majesty consists principally in acts of adoration, thanksgiving, petition and propitiation.

As we have seen, God immeasurably excels all creatures, even the highest and the sublimest of the heavenly spirits; He excels them not merely by His infinite dignity and perfection, but also by reason of His boundless power and dominion. Hence at all times and in all places, every creature is dependent upon God. It behooves man as a rational creature consciously and freely and actively to acknowledge his absolute dependence upon God in a word, to adore God. By adoration (arpda, adoratio latreutica, cultus latreuticus), we understand that supreme and most perfect homage due, not to any mere creature, but only and solely to God on account of His infinite perfection, majesty and sovereign authority. God alone is adorable; He alone is the Most High, the Almighty Creator and Ruler of creation. Those rights and perfections which belong exclusively to God, are also to be acknowledged and honored by a special worship, the worship of adoration. Hence to adore God is at the same time to acknowledge, admire and to praise His majesty and sovereign power; it is profoundly to humble and, in a manner, to annihilate ourselves in the presence of His infinite grandeur and dignity; it is to submit, to consecrate and to resign ourselves unreservedly to Him as our first beginning and our last end. Consequently, adoration is the most excellent and the most precious homage that God can receive from creatures endowed with reason, man included.

Two other religious duties and acts are inseparably connected with adoration namely, thanksgiving and petition. Because God is adorable, that is, because He possesses infinite perfections, unlimited power, and boundless goodness, He is the inexhaustible fountain whence proceeds every good and perfect gift, in heaven and upon earth. All that we are, that we have and can do, both in the order of nature and in the order of grace, is the outpouring of the overflowing love of God. Now, with respect to the numberless gifts and graces which we have already received and daily yet receive, we owe heartfelt thanks for them, one and all, to God, our greatest Benefactor; moreover, all the good that we may expect, hope for and implore, can likewise come to us only by the infinitely bounteous hand of God; hence it behooves us to turn to Him in humble supplication.

To adore God, to thank Him and to implore of Him His gifts is therefore a threefold duty incumbent upon man, for the simple reason that man is altogether dependent upon God. But in consequence of his having fallen away from God and become corrupt by sin, there devolves upon him, now laden with iniquity and deserving of punishment, still another obligation, namely, that of appeasing an offended and irritated God, by appropriate propitiation or satisfaction.

5. The acts of religion must above all be interior, that is, be performed with mind and heart; furthermore, they must also reveal themselves externally, appear visibly and in a manner become corporeal; the virtue of religion, as it must be exercised by man, comprises therefore interior and exterior acts. At the same time it must not be forgotten, that exterior acts of divine worship, to be pleasing to God and conducive to His honor, should always be animated and enlivened by the interior. The exterior acts of religion should proceed from the heart, should express the interior life of the soul, and practically show forth the mind’s religious reverence and submission, according to the words of the Royal Prophet: My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God (Ps. 83, 3). Why is man commanded to honor God by outward acts?

a) Man is not, as the angels, purely spiritual, but a creature composed of spirit and body. As such he must honor and glorify God in a manner appropriate to his corporeal and rational nature. But man renders the homage of his whole nature only when his body also takes part in his acts of divine worship, so that the interior worship is manifested by outward acts. Man in his entire being, created by God and dependent upon Him, belongs in body and soul to God; therefore is man bound to serve and to worship God, his Creator, Preserver and Lord, with the powers of his soul and body, by spiritual and corporal acts. Moreover, the body of a Christian is the temple of the Holy Ghost, for it becomes sanctified by grace, and is to be transfigured by glory. Hence the Church implores God to grant that we may serve and please Him not only with the soul, but also with the body.

b) The most intimate reciprocity exists between man’s interior and exterior acts; they proceed from one another, they mutually assist and complete each other. Those things which stir man’s inmost soul such as joy and sorrow, love and anger, hope and fear, involuntarily betray their impression in his exterior: and this is especially the case with regard to the interior acts of religion. And why should not the fervent interior life, the ardent devotion and divine love of a pious soul, be spontaneously manifested in the outward man, and so take possession of his entire being, as to impel him not only to sing in grace in his heart to God, but furthermore to pour himself out in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles (Coloss. 3, 16), to join his hands, bend his knees and prostrate his form upon the earth before the face of the Most High? My heart hath been glad and my tongue hath rejoiced (Ps. 15, 9), exclaims therefore the Royal Prophet. Let my soul be filled with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips (Ps. 62, 6). Reversely, the exterior also affects the interior man outward signs and acts arouse the affections of the spirit, inflame and nourish the fervor of devotion, refresh and invigorate the life of the soul. The interior acts of religion grow in perfection, become durable and constant, when they thus live and exercise their activity in the body, that is, when they, so to speak, assume flesh and blood. When, however, exterior divine worship is neglected, the interior soon languishes and dies.

c) Man is lord and master of irrational creatures, which also must be led to glorify the Creator. But it is principally by exterior worship that man can and must lead the visible creation to serve and praise the Creator. The use in religious service of creatures imparts to external nature a higher consecration and activity. For the building up and the adornment of the temple, the earth presents its treasures and precious metals; the ocean, its pearls; spring, the magnificence of its flowers.

d) Not the individual man alone, but society also, as a religious body, must render to God due homage and submission. Now a common public service (cultus socialis} requires external acts. Hence visible, outward worship is necessary as the bond of the religious community, namely the Church.

It behooves us, then, in accordance with our own nature and the express divine commandment, to honor God with our mental and corporal powers, that is, we must not merely by interior but also by outward acts adore Him, thank Him, beseech and propitiate Him.

This fourfold duty is fulfilled principally by prayer and sacrifice, which are intimately connected with each other, which permeate and complete one another. The interior acts of divine worship manifest themselves outwardly, in the first place, by vocal, that is, by corporal, prayer then in the offering of sacrifice, which, as the most sublime act of religion, is far more excellent and meritorius than prayer.

6. The virtue of religion is exceedingly precious and rich in blessings. It teaches us humbly to acknowledge our own littleness and misery, and to render to God, of whose goodness there is no end (Ps. 144, 3), due honor in all things, thereby winning for us the richest blessings. A spirit of reverential homage should, as a heavenly spice and consecration, pervade our whole life, in order to render it daily more and more pleasing and meritorious in the eyes of God. To worship God should be our joy and happiness! Come let us praise the Lord with joy, let us joyfully sing to God our Savior. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. For in His hands are all the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are His. For the sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. Come let us adore and fall down; and weep before the Lord that made us. For He is the Lord our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands (Ps. 94, 17). A true knowledge of God and a correct understanding of ourselves furnish the solid basis upon which rest the virtue of religion and the spirit of the most submissive adoration. Ever seeking to know God and ourselves more perfectly is the higher wisdom and the science of the Saints, and after this we should incessantly strive. Noverim te Noverim me! prayed St. Augustine. O God, grant that I may know Thee Noverim te! Give me an intimate knowledge of Thy adorable perfections, which are without measure or number of Thy infinite grandeur and glory, Thy inconceivable power, wisdom and goodness, Thy unspeakable beauty, sweetness and amiableness; penetrate me with a deep knowledge of

the profound things of Thy divinity, which only the Holy Spirit searcheth (1 Cor. 2, 10), that is, the works and riches of Thy grace and glory, Thy infinitely just and merciful decrees, the wonderful and inscrutable dispensations of Thy providence! Noverim me! Grant me, moreover, a wholesome knowledge of myself! O my God, illumine my darkness (Ps. 17, 29), that Thy light may permit me to look down deeply into the abyss of my nothingness, my misery, my helplessness, my frailty and my sinfulness!

2. Sacrifice in its Proper Sense

The interior acts and affections of the virtue of religion, that is, of adoration, thanksgiving, petition and satisfaction, manifest themselves in many ways, but find their supreme and most solemn expression in sacrifice. Sacrifice is a special act of divine service, and, as such, differs essentially from all other acts of worship. To form a correct idea of sacrifice, we must inquire what is properly meant by sacrifice, and in what its essence consists. By sacrifice we understand the offering of a visible object, effected through any change, transformation or destruction thereof, in order effectually to acknowledge the absolute Majesty and Sovereignty of God as well as man’s total dependence and submission.

Among the requisites of sacrifice, the gift and its presentation, as well as the object and meaning of the exterior act, chiefly deserve consideration.

1. Sacrifice is the offering of a visible object; hence, in the first place, a visible gift is necessary as an offering to God. This gift ought to correspond to the object in view, and should, therefore, be selected with due regard thereto. Consequently, the offering most appropriate to God is that which is the noblest in the visible creation human life. Wherefore Christ, in order to present the most perfect sacrifice, offered His precious life on the Cross, according to the will of His Father. In every other case God did not wish that human life should be sacrificed to Him, but rather contented Himself with the interior offering of the heart and its symbolical expression namely, with the presentation of an irrational creature substituted for human life and offered in its stead. It is at once evident that especially the living and inanimate things which serve directly for the support of man, and thus may represent his life, may be appropriately substituted as offerings for man himself. Before Christ such offerings consisted, for example, of lambs, heifers, doves; bread, wine, oil, salt, incense.

As such gifts were offered to give honor to God, it is self-evident that they had to be as perfect as possible, without blemish or defect. In as far as sacrifice is an external act of worship, its value depends chiefly on the dignity and interior disposition of the person who offers; the value of the gift presented also contributes to make the sacrifice more acceptable to God. Hence when proper sentiments animate the heart, only precious gifts will be selected as offerings for an action so exalted and holy. On the other hand to make choice of indifferent, trifling or imperfect objects as offerings is a sign that the proper spirit of sacrifice and respect for the Divine Majesty are wanting (cf. Mai. I, 7 8).

2. Not every gift offered to God is a sacrifice. It greatly depends on the way and manner of offering. Some change or destruction of the gift must take place to constitute a sacrifice. An entire destruction of the gift, or such as is at least morally equivalent, pertains essentially to the idea of sacrifice; hence its outward form. Whatever has not been liturgically transformed, v. g. destroyed, cannot be a real sacrifice (sacrifidum), but is only a religious gift (oblatio), essentially different from sacrifice. Thus we find in all sacrifices mentioned in Holy Writ, that there was ever some mode of destruction or dissolution, appropriate to the nature of the matter of the sacrifice. Thus, the animals were slain and their blood spilled on the altar, incense was consumed by fire, and wine was poured out. The intrinsic and more weighty reason why such a transformation, or destruction, of the gift is requisite for the act of sacrifice, lies in the peculiar meaning and in the special object of sacrifice.

3. Sacrifice, that is, the transformation of the gift offered, is intended to represent symbolically that God possesses absolute authority and dominion over all things and, consequently, that man is essentially dependent upon God, belongs and is subject to Him and, therefore, that he is bound and is ready to give and dedicate his life entirely to God. God is the Supreme Ruler, infinitely holy, the primal source of all being, and the last end to which all being should return, that He may be all in all (I. Cor. 15, 28). And now how could this grandeur and sovereignty of God over all that is and that can be outside of Him, be more appropriately expressed than by the destruction of a visible object, as is done in sacrifice? How could man’s dependence on and obligation to serve God be more suitably made apparent than in sacrifice, wherein a tangible, material object, is destroyed in the place of a human life?

If the exterior rite of sacrifice is in reality to have the above meaning and be a worship acceptable to God, then it must also be an expression of the interior and spiritual sacrifice, and be animated and vivified by the essential sentiments of sacrifice. The visible sacrifice, says St. Augustine, is a holy sign of the invisible offering.

Hence the offering up of sacrifice essentially aims to glorify God as the absolute Lord and supreme Legislator of all creatures, and this is to adore God. This meaning is inseparably connected with sacrifice; it holds the first place, and is ever an act of worship due to God alone, an act of adoration. With this main object, thanksgiving and petition are naturally combined, inasmuch as the gift is presented also to honor and acknowledge God as the omnipotent and merciful Dispenser of all good gifts, that is, to show one’s self grateful for benefits received, and to supplicate for new graces. In consequence of the fall of man, sacrifice assumes the additional characteristic of atonement. It is offered to express the need and desire of appeasing the irritated justice of God and of being thereby freed from sin and its punishment. Atonement for sin committed is made by sacrifice, inasmuch as the offended majesty of God is glorified, in order to restore to God the honor of which He had been deprived and to make satisfaction for the injury done to Him. The destruction of the offering is especially suitable to this end. How could sinful man more worthily and more strikingly acknowledge himself deserving of death on account of his fault, and, willing to undergo death in satisfaction for it, than when, by the laying of his hands on the victim, he transfers to it his sins, and slaying it and shedding its blood, offers it to God instead of his own life?

History shows us atonement as always accompanying adoration and holding the rank next to it in the idea of sacrifice. The first and greatest want and desire of fallen man was to appease the anger of an offended God, to obtain mercy and forgiveness for sin; hence it is quite natural that among the guilty, unredeemed generations living before Christ the character of atonement should have been impressed in a marked manner upon their sacrifices. In whatever necessity sinful man presents himself before God, whether to adore, to thank or to petition Him, his first and deepest conviction is that he is a poor sinner, unworthy of being heard and answered by God; hence it is most natural that precisely in the most ardent acts of worship, such as sacrifice, he will always, and at the very start, feel deeply conscious that he is laden with sins and debts to God. How could he, a sinner, more worthily acknowledge the Divine Majesty of the infinitely holy and just God, show his gratitude towards Him in a more appropriate way, and approach Him with greater confidence of being heard?"

It is for this fourfold end that sacrifices are offered: hence there are sacrifices of adoration, of thanksgiving, of petition and of propitiation. These divisions are not made according to the exclusive object of Sacrifice, but only with reference to its predominant end. This means only that in the rite of celebration and in the intention of the person offering, one of these ends is chiefly intended, without, however, excluding the others. Every sacrifice has in itself a fourfold signification it serves at one and the same time to glorify the Divine Majesty (sacrificium latreuticum); to return thanks for benefits received (sacrificium eucharisticum); to petition for new benefits (sacrificium impetratorium); and finally, to satisfy for sin and its punishment (sacrificium propitiatorium) .

4. In so far as sacrifice has a symbolical meaning and is a constituent part of public worship, it must positively be instituted by a legitimate authority. The sacrificial service of the Old Law was regulated and ordained by God Himself in its most minute details; in the New Law the essential elements and features of worship proceed directly from Jesus Christ hence, first of them all, sacrifice, which constitutes the fundamental and central act of divine service. Neither to the Synagogue nor to the Church did God impart the right or the power to institute sacrifices in His infinite mercy He Himself condescended to prescribe the sacrifices by which He would be honored and propitiated. No mere man, but our Divine Savior alone could institute so sublime and so excellent a Sacrifice as we possess in the Holy Mass.

5. Sacrifice is an act of worship which cannot be performed by anybody but a priest. He alone who has been especially chosen, called and empowered, that is, only the priest can and may perform the office of sacrificer. Sacrifice and priesthood are inseparably connected no sacrifice can exist without a priesthood, and no priesthood without a sacrifice. A special priesthood is, therefore, required by the very nature of sacrifice, which, as a public, solemn act of worship, must be performed in the name and for the welfare of the religious body by a duly authorized person. Consequently, it is highly proper that only he who is, at least by his office and dignity, especially separated from sinners and sanctified, should present himself in sacrifice as mediator between an offended God and sinful man. For every high priest taken from among men, so writes the Apostle, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins (Heb. 5, 1). It is clear that it belongs to God alone to bestow the honor of the priestly vocation and office, and to determine who belong to Him, and the holy He will join to Himself; and they whom He shall choose shall approach to Him (Num. 16, 5).

6. Nor is it less evident that for the celebration of so holy and solemn an act of worship it is especially becoming to make choice of a sanctified place; such a place, where sacrifice is offered, is called an altar. Wherever sacrifice and priesthood are found, there also is always an altar.

7. From the above it follows that sacrifice is the most exalted and perfect manner of honoring God, and, therefore, excels all other acts of worship. It also constitutes the principal act, and is the central point of the whole divine service. In this all agree that man by the offering of sacrifice renders to God the highest possible honor and homage. In sacrifice the interior adoration of the Divine Majesty attains its fullest expression. Sacrifice is essentially an act of adoration, and, therefore, always includes the acknowledgment of the divinity of Him to whom it is offered. It is among all acts of worship the prerogative of God, and may be offered only to the one true God. To offer it to a creature, even to the greatest saint or the most exalted of the angels, would be heinous idolatry. At all times sacrifices have been offered to God, to acknowledge in the most perfect and solemn manner His sovereignty, to express gratitude for favors, to implore fresh blessings from Him and especially to avert the scourges of His avenging justice.

3. Sacrifice in a Figurative Sense

Only such acts of divine worship as contain in themselves all the essential requisites and characteristics of the idea of sacrifice as explained above, are and may be called sacrifices in their proper sense. In the religious, ascetical life virtuous acts, differing essenally from sacrifice, are often called by that name. The term sacrifice applied to such acts is not to be taken in its original and strict meaning, but is to be understood in a derivative and improper sense: acts of virtue are and are called sacrifices in a broader sense. The word sacrifice, for example, is often used figuratively to designate good, meritorious actions, inasmuch as they bear a certain resemblance and relationship to true and real sacrifices. This resemblance and relationship consists chiefly in two points sacrifice serves to glorify God and is accomplished by the destruction of a sensible object. The various acts of virtue, therefore, resemble sacrifice in so far as they are performed with the right disposition and intention of giving glory to God, and in so far as they require a certain destruction, that is, the mortification of the perverse and sensual nature of man. The base, sensual, earthly, material life must be curbed and overcome, must die, so that the higher, spiritual, heavenly life of grace may be vigorously and fully developed in man. Mortification, however, is painful to man and costs labor and exertion. We are accustomed to think of this necessary renunciation and self-denial chiefly when we designate as a sacrifice individual acts of virtue, and also a life that is wholly Christian and perfect. Some examples may throw light upon the above and confirm what has been said.

2. Acts of charity, works of mercy, whereby the poor and needy are assisted and consoled, are called sacrifices by the Apostle and this in so far as the Christian intends, in the person of the poor, to give something to God Himself by the alms which he bestows: Do not forget to do good and to impart; for by such sacrifices God’s favor is obtained. The same Apostle called the alms sent to him by the Christians of Philippi, an odor of sweetness, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

To renounce sensual pleasures, to treat the body with rigor and austerity, is still more difficult than to forego worldly goods and possessions; hence St. Paul exhorts the Christians by the mercy of God that you present your bodies (through mortification) a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service.

A sacrifice which God does not reject, but graciously accepts is an afflicted spirit, a contrite and humble heart, that is, a spirit and a heart which, wounded with love and sorrow, penitently bewails and detests the sins and transgressions of its past life.

Prayer stands in intimate relation and connection with sacrifice; for the spirit of prayer and the sentiments of the heart constitute the intrinsic being of sacrifice, the soul of the exterior rite of sacrifice. Hence, as sacrifice is called effective or real prayer (oratio realis), on the other hand, prayer is also called sacrifice. Thus the Prophet designated the prayer of praise and thanksgiving as the sacrifice of the lips (vituli labiorum Osee 14, 3). Referring to this the Apostle writes: Let us offer the sacrifice of prayer always to God, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name. In the Psalms we are invited to offer to God the sacrifice of praise.

A life that is entirely consumed amid suffering and struggle, in labor and fatigue, for God and His honor, is a holocaust: As gold in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He hath received them. The man also who in God’s name consecrates himself wholly to God is a sacrifice, in so far as he dies to the world, to live to God.

A sacrifice most perfect and acceptable to the Divine Majesty is pre-eminently the renunciation and consecration of religious persons, who by the threefold perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, freely and cheerfully renounce the earth and its goods, the world and its pleasures, in order to devote and dedicate themselves in body and soul forever to the service of God.

Sacrifice in a broader sense made up the unspeakably humble and painful life of the poor, virginal and obedient Jesus, whilst His death on the Cross for the redemption of the world is a sacrifice in the strictest sense. The same cannot be said of the bloody death of the martyrs, however precious it was in the sight of the Lord; their martyrdom had not the character of a real sacrifice. The martyrs indeed (as the Church sings in the divine Office) loved Christ during life and imitated Him in their death, for God’s sake they indeed offered their bodies to the torments of death and shed their blood gloriously for the Lord, thereby obtaining unfading crowns; still they were destined neither as sacrificing priests nor as sacrificial victims to consecrate their lives to the adoration and propitiation of the Divine Majesty, but they suffered a violent death only in testimony and in defense of the truth, holiness and divinity of the Catholic faith. Now, although in the sight of the Lord the death of many saints was precious (Ps. 115, 15), yet none of these innocent victims accomplished the redemption of the world. The just received crowns of victory, but they did not bestow them; from the fortitude of the faithful proceeded models of patience, not gifts of justice.

3. To sacrifice taken in a broad or figurative sense corresponds the figurative or general priesthood of all the faithful. Hence the prince of the Apostles called all Christians a holy priesthood, chosen and qualified to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The faithful constitute a holy priesthood, in so far as they have by the sacramental character and the sacramental grace of baptism, separated themselves from sinners, being dedicated and sanctified, that by the spiritual sacrifices of a new and virtuous life, that is, by prayer, fervor, piety, self-denial, patience, compunction, benevolence and charity for the neighbor they may honor and glorify God. As often as we perform a good action, with an upright intention directed to God, especially if in the midst of temptation and struggle, we offer a sacrifice to God.

4. With sacrifice and priesthood the altar is inseparably connected. The word is also not unfrequently used in a broader sense, that is, figuratively. Thus St. Augustine writes: We are the temple of God, because He deigns to dwell in us. Our heart is His altar, when it is raised toward Him (cum ad ilium sursum est, ejus est altare cor nostrum); to Him we immolate bloody sacrifices (cruentas victimas), when we combat unto blood for His truth; to Him we burn most fragrant incense (suavissimum adolemus incensum), when we are on fire in His presence with devout and holy love; to Him we present the sacrifice of humility and praise upon the altar of our heart in the fire of inflamed love (hostiam humilitatis et laudis in ara cordis igne fervidae charitatis).

4. The Meaning and Efficacy of the Sacrifices of the Old Law.

1. By the sin of our first parents, in whom all mankind fell, the original plan of salvation was frustrated. But God did not wish the unhappy world to perish in an abyss of temporal misery

and eternal death; in the excess of His goodness and love, He determined to raise man from his fall and again to enrich him with gifts of grace and glory. This restoration was to be effected in the fullness of time, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3, 24). Jesus Christ by His sacrifice on the Cross for the redemption of the world, is the salvation of all ages; from the beginning, there was no name under heaven given to men whereby they were to be saved, other than the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Acts 4). Already before the Christian era no one could obtain the life of grace and eternal salvation except by adhering to Christ; this adhesion could then be effected only by supernatural faith in the promised and coming Redeemer. That this faith, necessary to salvation, as well as the hope and charity springing therefrom, might be within reach of all men, God always imparted His supernatural help and grace. The mystery of the redemption was at no time inefficacious, not even in the Old Testament. It was not by a new decree nor through a later mercy that God cared for the welfare of man, but from the beginning of the world He opened and designated for all one and the same fountain of salvation. For the grace of God, whereby all the Saints have ever been justified, was merely increased at the birth of Christ, and not then first imparted. This mystery of ineffable love, which at present fills the world, was so powerfully efficacious even in all its figures, that they who believed in the promised redemption did not receive less than they who have received the gift.

2. Among the means of bringing man into supernatural communication with God and the expected Redeemer, sacrifices already before the coming of Christ held a prominent place, yea, the very first place. As Abel even at the threshold of Paradise, so during the patriarchal age, Noah, Melchisedech, Abraham, Jacob, offered sacrifices to God, and God graciously accepted them. Then God Himself through Moses most precisely and minutely regulated and prescribed the entire sacrificial rite of the Old Law. As the Mosaic sacrifices were celebrated by the express will and command of God, thus also were sacrifices in patriarchal times undoubtedly offered up in consequence of a clearer light and by divine inspiration; hence the Apostle writes: By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain (Heb. 4).

In the Ceremonial of the Old Law there were bloody and un-bloody sacrifices. The bloody sacrifices were the principal and the most frequent; they again were subdivided into various kinds:

a) holocaust (holocaustum) in this the animal to be sacrificed was entirely consumed by fire; it was chiefly a sacrifice of praise and worship in acknowledgment of the Divine Majesty; b) peace offering (hostia pacifica) , in which a portion of the flesh was burned, another part was eaten at the sacrificial meal by those who had offered it, and the third part was reserved for the priests; the same had pre-eminently the character of thanksgiving or petition; c) offering of propitiation, called also sin or debt-offering (hostia pro peccato). In this a portion of the flesh was burned and the remainder consumed by the priests; whenever the offering was made for the sins of the whole people, or in a particular manner for the sins of the priests, then all was burned. The sacrifice of propitiation had principally for its object to appease the wrath of God and to obtain the pardon of sin.

3. These sacrifices previous to the Christian era had mainly the meaning and object essential to every sacrifice they were acts of adoration, gratitude, petition and atonement. But in order to be truly acceptable to God, to possess value and merit in His sight, they were to be offered with the proper dispositions, that is, the exterior rite was to be the true expression of the interior act of sacrifice, of submission, resignation, homage, worship, praise, gratitude, sorrow and compunction.

In consequence of the divine dispensation, the sacrifices of the Old Law had a still higher meaning, inasmuch as they were typically to prefigure and represent the approaching sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. In this consisted their chief object and value. The typical character of these sacrifices, which rendered them figures of the sacrifice of Christ, is beyond all doubt most exalted, for St. Paul fully explains and proves this (Hebr. 8 10). The Old Law was, indeed, the bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw near to God (Hebr. 7, 19), that is, the preparation for the New and Eternal Covenant. As St. Augustine teaches, in the Old Law the New was hidden, and in the New Law the Old was unfolded. In the Old Testament the New was prefigured; the